The One Time I Turned A Game Off Because It Scared The Hell Out Of Me

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October is my favorite month of the year, if only because it becomes more acceptable to watch a horror movie every night of the week -- or so I tell myself, anyway. You would also be spot-on guessing that most horror video games cross my desk, too, even the bad ones. Just like the movies, there aren't many good horror video games, with most relying on cheap tactics like loud noises and windows smashing. There's no subtley and little attempt to get your skin crawling.

It's pretty common for folks to quickly point towards the Silent Hill series for genuine scares, but if you haven't played the download-only PlayStation Network episodic horror series Siren: Blood Curse, you've been missing out. Siren: Blood Curse produced the only time I actually turned a video game off because the tension became so physically exhausting it became too much. I snapped.

What happens on the screen in a horror movie or game is certainly important, but audio is such a hidden, typically ignored facet of the experience. Siren: Blood Curse features some of the best sound work in a horror game that every time I paused to head to the bathroom, my apartment's squeaky boards, the yell of a stumbling crackhead from the street below or the tiny, usually insignificant movement of a hallway door caused by the wind had me reaching to switch the lights on.

Eventually, I'd had enough. There was no specific moment that pushed me over the edge in Siren: Blood Curse. Everything about the game is unnerving. You should experience it yourself.

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